Samuelson, Williams back at practice, hoping to play Friday

Published 6:51 pm, Wednesday, December 6, 2017

UConn’s Katie Lou Samuelson reacts after making a basket during the first half against Notre Dame on Sunday in Hartford, Conn.

UConn’s Katie Lou Samuelson reacts after making a basket during the first half against Notre Dame on Sunday in Hartford, Conn.

Photo: Jessica Hill / Associated Press

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UConn’s Gabby Williams drives the baseline against Nevada in the first half Nov. 28 in Reno, Nev.

UConn’s Gabby Williams drives the baseline against Nevada in the first half Nov. 28 in Reno, Nev.

Photo: Tom R. Smedes / Associated Press

Samuelson, Williams back at practice, hoping to play Friday

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STORRS — While it’s too early to tell, there’s a decent chance that All-Americans Katie Lou Samuelson and Gabby Williams will both be back in the lineup when the UConn women’s basketball team visits DePaul on Friday night.

Williams didn’t play at all in the second half of Sunday’s win over Notre Dame because of migraine headaches while a sprained ankle forced Samuelson to miss all but one second of the fourth quarter.

Samuelson took part in the early portion of Wednesday’s practice while Williams took part in drills for the entire practice.

“Hopefully, she (Samuelson) can do a couple more (drills) tomorrow, we will see on Friday and we will go from there,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “She just twisted it, but the only problem is that is happened to be the same place that she hurt her foot so you have a sprained foot and you have a sprained ankle on top of it. It is not ideal.

“(Williams) practiced most of practice today and she looked good. Tomorrow and Friday we will see how it goes.”

Williams said she didn’t want to answer questions about the migraine headaches, which affected her earlier in the season, but said the UConn coaches and medical staff are working to keep her from missing more time during games.

Williams was more than happy to discuss how her teammates came through with a blistering fourth-quarter performance to rally for the 80-71 win over Notre Dame.

“It was fun to watch,” Williams said. “They could of given up and had excuses, but that says a lot of about ther competitiveness and their heart.”

Auriemma said Williams’ competitiveness could be a detriment in her battle with migraines.

“The biggest thing is she gets frustrated with it and it doesn’t help her, so right now more than anything we are trying to help her with the frustration of it all because that is when she started playing poorly when she gets frustrated,” Auriemma said.

Sitting out has been tougher on Samuelson, who missed four full games and left early in two others because of foot and ankle injuries.

“I did everything (in practice),” Samuelson said. “We are still going day by day and trying to figure things out. I never want to miss a game. I want to play, but I don’t want to be dealing with this ankle injury (all season). There are a lot of things I would want to happen right now, but we are still going to see every day and see how it goes.”